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“You saved us, Warren!” Jones enveloped me in a hug. I held my breath so the overpowering smell of sweaty man-body wouldn’t knock me out and hugged him back. He jiggled me in his arms until Kingston came up behind him and clapped him onthe back.
“Don’t kill her, man, or she won’t be able to save our asses again.”
Jones laughed and released me to go to his locker. I was nervous to look up at Kingston, but he just nodded at me with approval, not a hint of anything more than coworker-like support on his face. He moved to his cubby before I could throw off the unexpected wave of disappointment and muster up aresponse.
A couple guys patted me on the back as they passed, chatting amicably. The team’s mood had improved dramatically since the end of the second period. Not only had we won, but there wasn’t a pissed-off goalie throwing shit across the locker room.
Lukin had the game on lock in the first period; he was in the zone and on his way to his first NHL shutout. But, during the second period, Vancouver got a puck past him, and Lukin couldn’t recover. He ran out of steam trying to overcompensate, and by the end of the period, he had let in two more goals. Coach Hansson probably would have kept him in the game … if he hadn’t marched into the locker room after the period and chucked his mask across the room, leaving a huge dent in the wall. I hadn’t had time to wonder who would pay for that because, in the next second, Coach benched Lukin and I was put in.
Unlike my first game with them, I was able to help pull the team out of the red. I didn’t let in any more goals, and our forwards suddenly had a fire lit under their asses. We took the game back and didn’t even have to go intoovertime.
I received a few more nods from the boys and a sharp high five from Mason as I sat down at my assigned cubby to strip off my pads. Once I was down to my sports bra and underwear, I unraveled the platinum braids I wore under my headgear and took off for the showers. My short amount of time on the ice didn’t allow me to work up a big sweat, but I had an even sheen of stickiness covering my body that I was eager to get off.
As I stepped around Jones on my way, I felt, more than saw, Kingston’s eyes glue themselves to my barely dressed figure. His equally bare body flirted at the side of my vision, and I struggled to keep a straight face and not make eye contact with him over Jones’shoulder.
I would have been able to ignore him before. Before the elevator. Before I knew how hot his tongue was when it slid against mine. Before it felt like my body knew the moment he stepped into a room.
Since high school, I had been surrounded by half-naked, good-looking, muscular men, but I had a hard-and-fast rule to not stare. It wasn’t always easy, but I used my perceived sexuality as a shield. Any accidental stray eyes were brushed away with the excuse that I was gay. It was a system I’d used for my entire career, and it had worked out flawlessly until I met Sebastian fuckingKingston.
I had tried to keep my eyes off of him, but temptation was a strong opponent. I knew Kingston caught me looking when we were in the locker room alone. Had I managed to be more professional, he may have brushed it off entirely. Then the elevatorhappened.
Now I had to explain my bullshit to him. I could basically kiss his respect and our fledgling friendship goodbye.
I made it into the showers, turned the water to ice cold, and scrubbed downviciously.
As the bus pulled up and parked in the Snow Globe lot, a wave of relief crashed over me. We were finally home. Thank God. Vancouver had been rough on my mind. With all the drama, I couldn’t even fully enjoyour wins.
The whole reason for letting people think I was a lesbian was to cause less drama, but I went and fucked that right up, didn’t I? After the excruciatingly long plane and bus ride back to the arena, I didn’t care that it was two in the morning. I was more than ready to talk to Kingston and get the inevitable awkward conversation out of the way.
I nudged Mason awake. It had been a bumpy ride from the airport, yet Mason had passed out immediately and hadn’t stirred for anything. Typical.
We grabbed our backpacks and got off the bus in a crowd of zombie-like hockey players. Road trips were hard for everyone, and we all just wanted to go home and crash. Everyone but me and Kingston, that was. While the team got their luggage from the bus carriage, Kingston came up to me, a pointed look onhis face.
I sighed and moved off to the side of the crowd. He must be eager to get the “you’re an amazing girl, but I just don’t see you that way” speech over as well.
“We can’t be seen leaving together,” I mumbled to him. “I rode with Mason here, so follow us to my house. We can talk there.”
He nodded then went into the mass of players and grabbed hissuitcase.
I was about to wade into the fray myself when Mason popped up beside me, both our bags in his hands. He glanced curiously at Kingston’s retreating back. Mason wasn’t stupid or blind; despite being distracted by his relationship problems, he knew I was hidingsomething.
“Thanks, Mase. Hey, do you mind if I drive?” I asked, taking my suitcase from him and popping up the handle.
Mason shot me a questioning look but fished his keys out of his pocket and handed them over. “Sure.”
Once at his green monstrosity of a Jeep, we threw our bags in the back, and I claimed the driver’s seat. I needed a little bit of distraction from this conversation, and I didn’t trust Mason not to crash us in surprise when I spilled my secrets.
“So … something happened last night,”I started.
“No shit, Riles. You’ve been weird as fuck all day. What the hell did you do?”
I pulled his giant car out of the parking spot and made my way down the aisle slowly. Kingston’s truck lights appeared behind me, and I drove out of the lot, taking a deep breath as I launched into my story, telling him everything that happened last nightand today.
Thankfully, I lived close to the rink, and as I pulled into Mason’s usual spot behind my car, he was just winding down from his storm of questions. In the rearview mirror, Kingston parked behind me and killed his lights.
“Is that Kingston behind us?” Mason asked, finally noticing our tail.Note to self: Mason would die immediately in aspy movie.
“I have to go face the music.”
